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Bertie Robert Turner (1898-1965)


Meadowfield youth served in CEF, wounded at Passchendaele


Bertie Robert Turner was the youngest child of fish & chip shop owner Joshua Turner and his wife Ann. He was born on 19th January 1898 in Meadowfield and was the only one of the seven children not born in Yorkshire.

On 19th April 1907 Bertie arrived in Nova Scotia having sailed from Liverpool on the SS Victorian with his parents and elder siblings, Bessie and Archdale. They were making for Swift Current, Saskatchewan where father Joshua was going to farm. Over time they were joined by other members of the family and this was where mother Ann died in 1911.

On 21st January 1916 eighteen year old Bertie enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) in Swift Current. He became Private 252216 with the 209th Battalion, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel W O Smyth. At the beginning of November the Battalion sailed for England and at the turn of the year was absorbed into the 9th Reserve Battalion at St Martin’s Plain. Two weeks later Private Turner was transferred to the Canadian Engineers Machine Gun Depot at Crowborough in Sussex. He remained there until the end of the year. He was then transferred firstly to the Machine Gun Pool and then to the 7th Canadian Machine Gun (CMG) Company; joining them in Wieltje, Belgium on 13th November.

Two days later the 7th CMG were on the front line at Passchendale and according to the War Diary, “each man was instructed to carry one pair of dry sox and to rub whale oil into their feet before moving off.” As the relief was on the way over the ridge the tail end was caught in enemy fire and one of those wounded by Sapper Turner. He was wounded in the right thigh and buttock and was taken by stretcher to a field ambulance station and then by ambulance to a casualty clearing station where his wounds were cleaned and dressed. Three days later he was transferred to hospital in Boulogne, and after his wounds became infected he was transferred by hospital ship to hospital in Plymouth.

After convalescence at Bearwood, Bertie left hospital on 3rd April 1918. A medical board had recommended that due to the partial loss of function of his right leg he be discharged from the service as physically unfit. He returned to Canada on SS City of Poona and arrived in Montreal on 8th October 1918. After travelling west he was discharged from the CEF in Regina, Saskatchewan on 22nd November 1918 as “physically unfit due to wounds.” It was noted at his last Medical Board that the wounds had healed well, but that the skin was “drawn like a purse’s string.”

Bertie returned to the family farm in Swift Current and married American girl Ruby Isabel Stewart, who gave birth to their first son, Robert, in February 1923.

Bertie Robert Turner died in Kyle, Saskatchewan on 6th January 1965 and is buried in a family plot in Horse Butte Anglican Cemetery.

Civil Parish: Brandon and Byshottles

Birth date: 19-Jan-1898

Death date: 06-Jan-1965

Armed force/civilian: Army

Residence: 11 High John Street, Meadowfield (1901 census)
Moosejaw, Saskatchewan (1911 Canadian census)
Swift Current, Saskatchewan (enlistment papers)
Kyle, Saskatchewan (1921 Canadian census)

Religion: Episcopalian

Employment: Farm labourer (enlistment papers)
Farmer (1921 Canadian census)

Family: Parents: Joshua Turner, Ann Jemina Turner (nee Finch)
Siblings: Frank James Turner, Joshua Harry Turner, Thomas William Turner, Hebert Turner, Bessie Turner, John Edward Turner, Archdale Turner
Wife: Ruby Isabel Turner (nee Stewart)
Children: Robert Mackenzie Turner, Gordon Albert Turner

Military service:

252216
Private
209th Battalion Canadian Expeditionary Force
7th Canadian Machine Gun Company

Medal(s): British War Medal
Victory Medal

Gender: Male

Contributed by Jean Longstaff, Durham

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